Dated 30th May 1989
The letter refers to Suzman’s decision not to stand for re-election.

From Helen Suzman to John Kane-Berman, the CEO of the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR) from 1983-2014.

Helen Suzman, OMSG, DBE (1917 – 2009) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician.
In 1948, when the largely Afrikaner, proapartheid National Party won the national elections, Suzman joined the United Party, a moderate coalition of Afrikaners and English-speaking white South Africans. She was elected to Parliament in 1953.

Six years later she and 11 other liberal members of Parliament formed the aggressively antiapartheid Progressive Party; of the 12, only Suzman was returned to office in the elections of 1961. From 1961 to 1974 she was the sole antiapartheid member of Parliament. Serving as an advocate for the disenfranchised, Suzman was in constant conflict with her conservative colleagues—particularly P.W. Botha—and she often cast the lone vote against an increasing number of apartheid measures. Until her retirement in 1989, Suzman remained a consistent and significant presence in the South African Parliament, though after 1974 she was no longer the sole opposition voice.

209mm x 149mm folded

R1,000